


Halloween Night at the Mansion

by DixieDale



Category: Garrison's Gorillas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 21:56:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16354988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: 'Bizarre, Creepy, Weird'.  While there were several words that could describe that Halloween night at the Mansion, depending on who you asked, there was one Lieutenant Garrison and his men could agree on.  'Unforgettable!'





	Halloween Night at the Mansion

**Author's Note:**

> War years, early on.
> 
> 'Theme of the Month Club' was referenced in prior stories: 'I Thought I Could Trust You!' and 'Nothing But The Truth (Well, More or Less)'

October 1st:  
Craig Garrison took a glance at the calendar, with that slip of paper tucked up along side - the details of the 'Theme of the Month Club'. August, 'Awful Scary Story Month', had been manageable, especially after the hasty mid-month adjustment to 'Amazing Amatory Adventures Month', and 'Songful September' had been downright peaceful, if you discounted having to bail the guys out of jail for serenading the locals in the wee hours that one night after they closed down the pub, in violation of the noise ordinances. Now it was October, and he was sure 'Outrageous Lies October' would prove no real problem. No, cancel that, he hoped and prayed 'Outrageous Lies October' would prove no real problem. With his guys, he was never sure a problem wasn't just around the corner, and this 'Theme of the Month Club' Actor and the other guys had initiated just provided additional and more varied opportunities. 

Garrison had been dealing with it, one month at a time, since they sprung this on him with May's 'Merry Month of Mayhem'; not happily, mind you, but with grim determination. He wondered sometimes, just how many months you really needed in a year anyway? Twelve seemed an awful lot, especially looking at that list of 'themes' the guys had put together. Maybe they could shorten it some, cut it in half? Maybe three months would suffice? Surely the USA, Great Britain would go along with that? Oh, who was he kidding! He was stuck with it, along with all the rest! Actor had convinced him it was necessary, "they were getting bored, Craig, and you know that is not a good thing!" God knows, though, he might not survive. How was that going to look on his tombstone, "Craig Garrison, military officer serving in a time of war, died in the performance of his duty, having lost his mind, then his life, to the Theme of the Month Club??!"

October 31st:  
Now, in the late afternoon, he started to breathe easier. He wasn't sure what Naughty November might bring, but at least he would be putting October behind him. He shuddered as he remembered a full month of not being able to trust anything that came out of his men's mouths, well, unless they were on a mission, obviously. There had been some very embarrassing moments he was going to have a hard time forgetting, especially early on, before he caught on. 

Unfortunately, he'd started to relax too soon. He'd been so focused on getting past 'Outrageous Lies October', he hadn't taken into consideration that October 31st was Halloween. He'd never make that mistake again! The next few hours would make sure of that!

Walking out of his office into the big entry room he stopped dead, frowning at the big round white-draped table in the center; he was pretty sure the table hadn't been there when he'd gone into the office a few hours earlier - he was damned sure that, even if it had been, (admittedly, he'd been seriously preoccupied with that latest set of files sent down by HQ), it hadn't been filled with that bizarre collection of lit white and black candles of various sizes, carved turnips and assorted squashes, or the seriously creepy black spiders that seemed poised here and there, not to mention that villainous-looking orange and black lizard peeking out of the larger of the carved squashes.

A quick yell "Sergeant Major!" brought Gil Rawlins coming at a run.

"Yes, sir?" he panted, coming around the corner. Wordlessly Garrison motioned to the table, raising a questioning brow. Rawlins' eyes got big as he took in the sight, and he looked his confusion at the officer.

"Not your idea, I gather," Garrison asked in a dry voice.

"Me, sir??"

Well, it was hardly likely, the officer knew; the non-com just wasn't the type. 

Rawlins elaborated, "was busy in the file room most of the afternoon. Would 'ave thought I'd 'ear anyone setting all that up." He shuddered, "those spiders do look awfully real, don't they?"

He reached out to cautiously touch one, and snatched his hand back as the whole lot started scurrying around, trying to hide behind the various articles on the table. Garrison's jaw dropped, "hell, Gil! They ARE real!" At that moment the lizard decided he was hungry and dashed off in pursuit of his fast disappearing dinner. 

"Get the hell down here, now!!!" bellowed up the stairs, brought four widely grinning guys trooping down from the Common Room upstairs, laughing at some shared joke about what 'Naughty November' might include.

By then, the lizard and the spiders were long gone, and Garrison's face, tight with annoyance, got only puzzled stares, along with a confused, "Craig, is there a problem?" from Actor. A loud demand for an explanation from the Lieutenant, along with a stern denunciation from Rawlins for bringing 'vermin - all them spiders!' into the house, and a stern, "not to mention that big lizard!" from Garrison, didn't have any result other than causing the guys to look at each other in question.

Goniff shuddered, "spiders?? No way, Warden. I don't mess around with those; ain't overly fond of lizards, neither." The other men disclaimed any knowledge of the whole thing as well, even after an indignant Rawlins described the 'vermin' in some detail, and a tight-lipped Garrison dismissed them with a stern "and no more of this nonsense!"

He blew out the candles, considering them a fire hazard, and he and Rawlins retreated to his office, seeing as how all the livestock had departed for places unknown. A fast glance at the calendar, a shared realization, brought a low groan. "We're in for it, Lieutenant! Mark my words!" Within a few minutes, in the room outside, the candles were flickering brightly once again.

Back in the Common Room, Goniff protested, "Blimey, Casino! Don't know w'at they was blaming us for! Got some stuff planned for tonight, sure, telling some scary stories and such, but nothing yet! Sure as 'ell not bringing a bunch of spiders into the 'ouse!"

He cast an uneasy glance back at the door, "you think they was just 'aving us on? Bout them spiders and and a big lizard?" 

Actor raised one brow, "it hardly seems the kind of thing either of them would do, Goniff. They both seemed quite serious about the whole matter."

"Yeah, well, I'd be happier if it was them playing a joke on us. I don't like spiders any more than the little Limey here," Casino announced. Chief was listening, but a frown now came to his usually impassive face.

"Not so sure they were joking around," and he moved quickly to pick up a squirming lizard from the floor. "This one's green and black, though; didn't they say theirs was orange and black?"

Goniff had scuttled back, eyes huge. A movement in the corner brought a yell, "coo! There's another one! Grab it, Casino!" only to get an incredulous look from the safecracker.

"Like hell! You want it so damned bad, YOU grab it!" he'd snorted. It had been left up to Actor to gingerly pick up the colorful squirming creature. 

Garrison was still fuming when his office door opened; he and Rawlins looked up to see all four of his men standing there, worried looks on their faces.

"Craig, Sergeant Major. We appear to have a problem," Actor declared, holding up his green and orange captive, with Chief showing them his black and green one. Both the officer and the non-com's jaws dropped at the sight.

"Where?" Garrison demanded.

"In the Common Room, and if I am not mistaken, there were two more in the hallway as we started to come down. Unfortunately, Chief and I were already occupied with our 'guests', and since Goniff and Casino declined to pursue those, they are probably still upstairs somewhere."

Rawlins stared at the wriggling creatures, visibly uneasy at the sight, but then sighed, "I'll get a box to put them in while we look for the others."

Garrison's eyes were following a line along the side wall. "Gil? Better bring two boxes. No, better make that three, just in case, and maybe a few large jars for any spiders we come across," as he walked over to pick up the large toad now hunkered next to the bookcase.

Goniff gave a sincerely felt groan. "Spiders, lizards, frogs. What's next?"

"If I were you, I wouldn't ask!" Chief cautioned him dryly, "and that's a toad, not a frog."

"Don't CARE, Chiefy! Don't LIKE it!" Well, no one disputed his opinion about that, not then, not later.

When Casino let out a yell during his turn at the shower, everyone just groaned, figuring it was much the same as what had happened earlier in the evening with Actor and Goniff - the hot water turning to icy cold water in a second, shocking them to the core, then switching back again, all for no discernable reason.

The appearance of a naked and wide-eyed Casino in the doorway got their attention; his coloring was more along the line of the shade of pale Goniff usually wore. "It fell out of the ceiling. Shit!!!"

Somehow his description of the long wriggling visitor answered Goniff's earlier hypothetical question of 'what's next'. Actor headed downstairs to inform Garrison and the Sergeant Major of the latest development. It took Private Jenkins and Private Perkins almost half an hour to round up the intruder, along with a second one Casino hadn't had the dubious pleasure of meeting.

"You think that's the last of them?" Garrison asked uneasily, looking at that closed box under Perkins' arm, only to get a non-reassuring shrug from the two men.

"Can't say, Lieutenant. Might be, might not. I hope so; while they don't bother me much, I have to say your men were looking a little peaky, especially Casino." 

Garrison headed up to his room, thinking to get in a little reading, somewhere close to the guys; if they were up to nonsense, maybe he'd be lucky enough to catch them before it went too far. He stopped, frowned at that round table, and leaned forward to blow out those blasted candles. If it hadn't already been late, he would have gathered them up and tucked them in one of those extra boxes, but it was late, and he was a little skittish about removing the lids from any boxes right now anyway. He was sure Private Jenkins and Private Perkins had taken out the three with the various captured wildlife, but those three boxes along the wall DID look much the same. He shook himself briskly, {"I really need to get more sleep; I'm starting to second-guess myself!"}

Actor was the one who ran into the mass of thick sticky spider webs blocking the full top half of the Common Room door, webs not there when they'd closed that door just one drink ago. Chief had the honor of coming face to face with a large hairy brown bat when he went to perch in his usual spot on the window sill; while he didn't yell as much as Actor had, he couldn't deny his heart was beating quite a bit faster than before the occurrence. It wasn't that he minded bats so much; it was that it was hanging right at eye level when he'd pushed back the heavy drapery. He swore it grinned at him too, before it unfurled its wings and went sailing around the room, diving at each and every one of them before heading down the hallway.

Garrison had appeared at the door both times in response to the shouts, his disbelief in their innocence getting more and more battered by their seemingly genuine alarm. Of course, ducking that bat had gotten his attention too. And the sight of the dignified tall Italian con man, his shirt, face and dark hair sticky with the white mass of spider webs brought that point home; he couldn't see the man suffering that indignity any more than he could figure out how the others could have arranged it. The bat, now, they'd had a stray bat inside the house once or twice; maybe that was just a coincidence. No, probably not.

Garrison had settled back down in the armchair in his room for the third time, considering a drink before heading for bed; his nerves were more than a little on edge. He slowly became aware of a slow drip-drip-drip, and sighed heavily as he made his way into the bathroom to tighten the faucet. That seemed to do the trick, at least til he got reseated. Then drip-drip-drip. This time it didn't seem to be coming from the bathroom, though what could be dripping anywhere else he couldn't figure out. Looking around, he stopped, puzzled, at the small pool of moisture on top of the dark wood of the bedside table. Touching it with one finger proved it warm; a look at that finger proved it to be deep red, blood-red. He looked upward, toward the ceiling, toward the spot that seemed as if it HAD to be the source. Yes, there was a growing red stain there.

Making his way down the stairs, he called, "Gil, I think we may have another problem." Drawn by the voices, the guys came out into the hallway and listened with various degrees of dismay to Garrison's explanation to the non-com.

"Blood dripping outta the ceilings? Coo, what's . . ." only to get a quick reprimand, voiced in unison, "DON'T SAY IT, Goniff!"

When a thorough search of the room immediately above Garrison's proved the blood wasn't coming from there, and when another inspection of the ceiling in his bedroom failed to show any sign of that previous red stain, a quick command decision had Garrison grabbing his bedcovers and pillows and heading down to spend the night in his office. He doubted he'd be getting any sleep anyway! Not the way things were going.

On the way into his office, he stopped to blow out the candles on that table with its grotesque offerings; the shadows they'd been throwing had been seriously disturbing. {"There, that's better."}. He got all the way to the door when the shadows started moving again; and he turned as the remaining candles started re-lighting themselves, one by one. He stood there, stared, and with great resolution, entered his office and closed the door firmly behind him. {"Look on the bright side, Garrison. You've been wanting a few hours to read the rest of that book. You can always sleep tomorrow night."}

Upstairs in the Common Room it was approaching the hour they'd decided they would start telling their scary stories, stories of hauntings and ghosts and possession and all else that was traditional to Halloween night. Somehow, though, they just weren't in the mood anymore. Somehow, they ended up playing another hand of cards, taking another couple of drinks and headed to bed.

The uninvited guests making an exit from that large carved squash just inside the door of the Dorm garnered all of their attention for some time. It took awhile to settle down, settle in, to check the covers and the baseboards and elsewhere, "just to be sure". It took no time at all for the lights to come back on as soon as they were turned off, "just think it best, mates, you know?" Oddly enough, no one laughed or protested that decision. And for once, no one would complain about anyone's snoring - snoring required sleeping, and none of them seemed to be any more in the mood for that than for the telling of scary stories. One by one they hauled themselves upright and went over to the small bookcase in the corner to make a hurried selection. Somehow, it seemed more like a night for enjoying a good book or at least pretending to.

November 1st:  
Private Jenkins stopped in at Mrs. Wilson's to thank her again for the vegetable carvings she'd made at the request of Private Jenkins and Private Perkins, sort of a gift to brighten up the Mansion for Halloween.

"Those were really special, too. I particularly liked that big one with all the warts and all! The guys, they kept talking about them, even the Lieutenant and the Sergeant Major!" Jenkins was careful not to mention exactly what was being said by those individuals; somehow that seemed best. He wasn't even sure what some of those words meant, the ones Casino had said when those big roaches came swarming out of the stripey one he'd sat inside the Dorm. He'd been wary of even telling them he and Perkins had been the ones to put the squash there, along with all the others in the entry room below, for worry they'd think they was responsible for the roaches and spiders and everything else too; well, as if he'd even THINK of bringing anything like that inside the Mansion. Sergeant Major would have his head for sure!

{"Still, the carvings are traditional, and me and Perkins, we DID want to make the holiday special for the guys, especially after I heard all they were planning in the way of story-telling and such! Well worth the tariff! Wonder who decided to add in the candles! That was a nice touch; I'll have to remember that for next time."}

Gil Rawlins made his way carefully around to the rear of the schoolhouse where a small group of children of assorted sizes and ages were waiting for him. Pulling his wallet from his pocket he solemnly handed out a coin to each of those eagerly awaiting their payment.

"That was a good job of work on the bats and the toads and the lizards, but I 'ave to say, I'm none too pleased about the spiders and the roaches. I don't recall saying anything about either of those; and they're the devil to round up once they're loose! And those two snakes, coulda done without those too!" he said with a slight frown.

The children looked at him, puzzled, then at each other, "you didn't ask for no spiders or roaches, Sergeant Major and we didn't go looking for anything you didn't ask for. Just the lizards and the toads and the bats. Adam suggested we add in a few little snakes, as a bonus, you know, but we weren't sure how happy you'd be about that, so we didn't."

Gil Rawlins looked down at them, but their eyes seemed sincere. He made his way back to the Mansion, now more than a little worried what else might come crawling out of the woodwork, or swooping down from the ceiling. Funny, even this minor attempt to get the guys back for all the tricks they'd played on him had seemed to misfire. Well, he knew that happened more often than not around those four! The Lieutenant had said that a number of times, "Gil, things just seem to HAPPEN around those guys, and I swear sometimes I don't have a clue why!!"

In the attic at the Mansion, a faint giggle was heard from the misty female figure wrapped in those diaphanous lengths of rosy pink and moss green fabric, perched on the rafters. She had enjoyed herself SO much! She didn't have an opportunity for much fun anymore; most of the Sons of Adam just weren't any fun to play with, hadn't been for ever so many years. This lot, though, THEY knew what it meant to play and have fun and make mischief; she had noticed that early on in the summer when she had moved in and decided to stay for awhile.

She hadn't been sure she should intervene in their games, their holiday, wasn't sure they would appreciate her involvement, but when those carved squashes and turnips and all had been set out, when the lizards and the toads and the bats had been added to the mix, she had determined that yes, the other Sons of Adam thought these were a jolly bunch too, so she knew they WOULD enjoy it if she took part. It had been such a pleasure to make their holiday more lively, more enjoyable. Why, they had enjoyed it so much, they hadn't even wanted to go to sleep! 

Before she went back to sleep, or back to what passed as sleep for such a being, she decided she would do the same next year on this same date, at least, if she remained that long. That wasn't a certainty; she did so long for those of her own kind! Still, these would do, in the absense of her own; at least they had potential! She also made a note to thank the spiders and the snakes and roaches who'd worked so hard to make the night so enjoyable; it really wouldn't have been nearly the fun without their help! Though it was a shame the four had decided not to tell their stories; well, nevermind - that only showed how much they'd enjoyed everything else, that they obviously thought their night complete WITHOUT those stories. A satisfied sigh ruffled the musty air, and then silence prevailed.


End file.
